"We're not critics. We're professional fan-girls." --- This blog is dedicated to movies and the entertainment industry. We use random selection to bring into light the best and worst of Netflix and off various columns highlighting new movies as well.

Friday, February 14, 2014

Every once in a while I come across a film that I simply
cannot sit through. Sometimes it’s because of a technical error, sometimes it’s
a creative issue. Whatever the reason, my mind simply will not allow me to
watch it. “Idiots and Angels” falls into this category.

Before I begin, I must state that this movie got amazing
reviews from both audience members and critics. It’s said to be surreal, challenging
and very profound; but I can’t speak toward those claims. I am wholly
unqualified to review this film and the main reason for that is because I
couldn’t sit through even the first half hour.

I could have lived with the fact that there was no dialog. I
actually like animated films, so that shouldn’t have been the problem either.
My issue was the style of animation. I couldn’t get past the style and I couldn’t
concentrate on the story at all. It was purely an opinion-related issue.

My suggestion is that you watch the trailer. If the lack of
dialog and animation style doesn’t turn you off, give it a shot.

Sean Bateman, Lauren Hynde and Paul Denton’s lives intersect
at the End of the World Party. Difficulties, misunderstandings and bonds
intertwine until they are destined to be in their certain paths that day. This
film follows the three students and their sexual escapades throughout a few
weeks at Camden College.

In 2002, if James Van Der Beek was in a movie, it was easy
to write it off as a coming of age thing or a romance; especially since he was
still filming Dawson’s Creek at the time. I cannot stress this enough, however,
this is not a romance or a
coming of age story. There are all kind of mature themes in this film: death,
violence, sex, rape, and the list goes on. If you’re looking for a light-hearted
easy-going gentle-themed movie, you might want to skip over this misleading
title.

As dark and dirty as this movie is, I absolutely adored it.
The actors are great at their insane or psychotic characters and the plot is
relatively in depth. There are spectacular twists in the story and the script
is almost like a dark epic poem.

I think “The Rules of Attraction” is a great dark film that
hits a lot of the right marks. Some of the scenes run a bit too long and some
of the faces are little overacted, but it’s forgivable in my eyes because the
rest of it is just that good.

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 2.7/5

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 43%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 71%

Trust-the-Dice Score – 3.5/5

P.S. The “Sean Bateman” character in this movie is actually
the little brother of the character “Patrick Bateman” in the movie “American
Psycho.” It’s not said in the movies, but it is a fact from the books.

Brian is finally settling into Video Game High School. He’s
got great friends and is doing well in his classes and FPS Junior Varsity team.
In the wake of The Law’s cheating charges, things are starting to get back to
normal. But with the Kart clique threatening his friend Ted’s status with the
Drift clique, and his growing romance with fellow FPS teammate, Jenny, how long
can things possibly stay that way?

I’m sure you’ve noticed that I don’t tend to write about TV
shows in this blog. In fact, I never do. I made an exception for “Video Game
High School’s” second season for two reasons. First of all, when I did the
first season, a while back, Netflix wasn’t showing it as separate episodes –
instead it was on instant play as a long single movie. Second, there are only
six episodes (which I watched in one sitting) and if you skip the credits in
them, they’re only about 30 minutes each, which is still long – but not too far
from the length of a movie.

With that explained, I have to say that I LOVED the second
season of “VGHS.” It was all the same
gaming cheese that the first one was, but there was a better plot and the characters
became more in depth. Also, the actors were spectacular. Brian Firenzi isn’t my
cup of tea, but I really love Josh Blaylock and Johanna Braddy. Both of them
are believable as their characters and really helped me get into the story. In
the long run, I thought it was better than the first, which is interesting
because the first one got a near-perfect score.

Each genre of gaming is represented, with the FPS having a
football team kind of status. I haven’t seen the RPGers yet, but assume that’ll
come out in season 3. I especially loved the way the Mario Kart clique was
portrayed (they are only referred to as the Kart players due to copyrighting,
but it’s obvious what they’re meant to be). I’m fairly certain I would wind up
as one of them.

Like the first one, this is a must-see for gamers with a sense
of humor.